Karl Ziegler
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Karl Ziegler
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1963
Born: 26 November 1898, Helsa, Germany
Died: 12 August 1973, Mülheim, West Germany (now Germany)
Affiliation at the time of the award: Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
Prize motivation: “for their discoveries in the field of the chemistry and technology of high polymers”
Prize share: 1/2
Work
Synthetic materials like plastics are common in today's world. Plastic consists of very large molecules comprised of long chains of smaller molecules. In 1953 Karl Ziegler developed a method for creating these molecular chains using aluminum compounds as catalysts, which sped up the reaction without forming part of the end-products. The aluminum's electrons are grouped so that active molecules are drawn to them and wedge themselves in between the molecular chain and the aluminum atom. Thus, the chain is lengthened step by step.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
